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Invictus

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Divinity: Original Sin 2
Suspicious calling X Engine outdated; the version used in Anomaly looks way more advanced that most modern engines by far
 

OctavianRomulus

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If somehow they manage to release something (anything, really) that's a win in my eyes. With a few exceptions, most of the dev team seems underexperienced and underskilled for such an overambitious project such as this (I mean, "one of the biggest, seamless open-worlds to date"? Non-linear story featuring C&C, branching and multiple endings? An improved A-Life system? Get out of here, stalker!). If LinkedIn is anything to go by, GSC is also understaffed in many areas. No wonder the Metro series book writer is always roasting/mocking them any chance he gets.

Yeah, this smells exactly like Gothic 3. With that size, there is no way they will be able to deliver complexity and probably not even a stable game.
 

Tacgnol

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Suspicious calling X Engine outdated; the version used in Anomaly looks way more advanced that most modern engines by far

To be fair to GSC, those open sourced developed versions of X-Ray have had the benefit of several years additional development by the community.

I do agree though that they could have modernised the X-Ray engine if they were really fixed in that direction.
 

Invictus

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Divinity: Original Sin 2
Suspicious calling X Engine outdated; the version used in Anomaly looks way more advanced that most modern engines by far

To be fair to GSC, those open sourced developed versions of X-Ray have had the benefit of several years additional development by the community.

I do agree though that they could have modernised the X-Ray engine if they were really fixed in that direction.
You think that if GSC had approached a mod team like Anomaly to ask for the updated code or even recruit some of the modders to program for next official Stalker game they would have refused?
Nah they did it because Unreal is port ready for consoles and they could even get an Epic Exclusive... it saddens me but all the signs are there this will be a cash grab
 

OctavianRomulus

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Suspicious calling X Engine outdated; the version used in Anomaly looks way more advanced that most modern engines by far

To be fair to GSC, those open sourced developed versions of X-Ray have had the benefit of several years additional development by the community.

I do agree though that they could have modernised the X-Ray engine if they were really fixed in that direction.
You think that if GSC had approached a mod team like Anomaly to ask for the updated code or even recruit some of the modders to program for next official Stalker game they would have refused?
Nah they did it because Unreal is port ready for consoles and they could even get an Epic Exclusive... it saddens me but all the signs are there this will be a cash grab

That sounds like an obvious choice but it might have legal issues. Who knows, maybe some modder worked on this years ago and he does not agree with sharing the code for whatever reason. This probably works best when there is a single guy or a very small team or like-minded people.

Hiring them would have been a good idea though,
 

Tacgnol

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Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Grab the Codex by the pussy RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I helped put crap in Monomyth
Suspicious calling X Engine outdated; the version used in Anomaly looks way more advanced that most modern engines by far

To be fair to GSC, those open sourced developed versions of X-Ray have had the benefit of several years additional development by the community.

I do agree though that they could have modernised the X-Ray engine if they were really fixed in that direction.
You think that if GSC had approached a mod team like Anomaly to ask for the updated code or even recruit some of the modders to program for next official Stalker game they would have refused?
Nah they did it because Unreal is port ready for consoles and they could even get an Epic Exclusive... it saddens me but all the signs are there this will be a cash grab

That sounds like an obvious choice but it might have legal issues. Who knows, maybe some modder worked on this years ago and he does not agree with sharing the code for whatever reason. This probably works best when there is a single guy or a very small team or like-minded people.

Hiring them would have been a good idea though,

Yeah no dev is gonna use a fan enhanced version of one of their old engines for a commercial AA title.

The legal issues alone from god knows what middleware and libraries the community has duct taped in over the years. A lot of them may be free and legal for non-commercial use (or not), but not commercial use.
 

thesecret1

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I mean, people say you should dream big, and the promises sure sound nice, but there's no way they can actually pull it all off, not when they're basically building the whole thing from the ground up again.
 

Tacgnol

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Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Grab the Codex by the pussy RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I helped put crap in Monomyth
I mean, people say you should dream big, and the promises sure sound nice, but there's no way they can actually pull it all off, not when they're basically building the whole thing from the ground up again.

I'm surprised they're going down this path, especially with how much they had to cut back the original due to overambition.

I guess Sergiy is not a man to learn from his past mistakes.
 

DeepOcean

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GSC Game World’s PR manager, who is now working on the highly awaited STALKER 2, became a guest on the podcast “Not brought in” Zakhar Bocharov provided detailed responses to several of the hosts’ questions regarding the development of STALKER 2.

Since GSC and Microsoft signed a nondisclosure agreement, Bocharov was unable to respond to every single question, but he did provide some information. One thing he ensured is that the STALKER 2 will be very stable at the release.

  • GSC wanted to make a sequel on the original X-Ray engine, but it is outdated. The developers sifted through other options for the actual engines but settled on the Unreal Engine.
  • GSC calls mod support a priority and will try to implement it already in the release version of the game. The modding community is very important for developers. Support for mods on Xbox is also being explored.
  • Bocharov promised that STALKER 2 on release will be much more stable.
  • The life simulation system A-life has become “more meticulous and more detailed.” All interactions between factions, monsters, NPCs will take place even while the player does not see it. “A-life 2.0 is a different level of performance. We’ll pay enough attention to it closer to release. It’s a wildly cool system that works really well and there will be something to show. “Bocharov gave an example of a fight between wild boars, the consequences of which the player can see. He did not disclose what would really work “at a new level”.
  • The open world of the Zone will offer a “non-linear storyline with a huge number of branches and different endings.” It is promised that the Zone will match the scale of history. The single-player mode is the main one in STALKER 2.
https://gamingsym.in/stalker-2-supp...ccording-to-the-pr-manager-of-gsc-game-world/
Sorry, but all of this sounds like: "sorry guys, we ran out of budget so we are only delivering 30% of what we promised".
 

CappenVarra

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not wasting your top-tier devs maintaining an in-house engine can be a good move if it frees those top-tier devs to work on other aspects of the game besides rendering a rock 100 meters away being hit by a bullet (presuming an off-the-shelf engine is available that does a good job of rendering a rock 100 meters away being hit by a bullet)

of course, the above has yet to happen - because inevitably it turns into "we don't need top-tier devs anymore, it's not like we're building our own engine or anything right?" - cue budget cuts and a smaller team consisting entirely of mid-tier devs; a console release is just one step further down into the sewers from there...
 

Grotesque

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Divinity: Original Sin Divinity: Original Sin 2
How many people in creative roles that worked on STALKER are now working on STALKER 2?
 

prengle

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ok but thanks to the treasure trove of stalker leaks that have been released over the years, we not only have proof that gsc was actually trying to add most of this shit in the early 2000s and modders have been able to restore most of it, whereas afaik there isn't a single leaked alpha of any bethesda game on the internet, and if there was zenimax (and now msft) would try to nuke it and any content from it as fast as humanly possible. this is an apples and oranges situation
 

jebsmoker

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Insert Title Here Strap Yourselves In I helped put crap in Monomyth
ok but thanks to the treasure trove of stalker leaks that have been released over the years, we not only have proof that gsc was actually trying to add most of this shit in the early 2000s and modders have been able to restore most of it, whereas afaik there isn't a single leaked alpha of any bethesda game on the internet, and if there was zenimax (and now msft) would try to nuke it and any content from it as fast as humanly possible. this is an apples and oranges situation

kind of. until dean sharpe came aboard, STALKER was mostly a series of disparate tech demos. an actual game didn't materialize until 2005-2006. by then, major cuts were already taking place
 
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deuxhero

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whereas afaik there isn't a single leaked alpha of any bethesda game on the internet


Edit: There's even a mod for it (a warp menu so you can access a few inaccessible levels). Having played it, I think the combat is actually better than the real Oblivion or Skyrim (not a real accomplishment). The hitstun and z-targeting that speeds the player up create a decent dynamic.
 
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Dodo1610

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Though that game as never made by Bethesda and probably leaked by the studio who made it.

ok but thanks to the treasure trove of stalker leaks that have been released over the years, we not only have proof that gsc was actually trying to add most of this shit in the early 2000s and modders have been able to restore most of it, whereas afaik there isn't a single leaked alpha of any bethesda game on the internet, and if there was zenimax (and now msft) would try to nuke it and any content from it as fast as humanly possible. this is an apples and oranges situation
There is a lot of unfinished stuff hidden inside Skyrim's files, originally the civil war should have been a much bigger part of the game https://tcrf.net/The_Elder_Scrolls_V:_Skyrim/Civil_War and they planned to make it much more dynamic but obviously, none of that was possible on consoles so it was cut. Though there was a mod that restored it.
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/103098/ It's really sad originally the civil war should have even affected the game's economy.
 

Tacgnol

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Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Grab the Codex by the pussy RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I helped put crap in Monomyth
ok but thanks to the treasure trove of stalker leaks that have been released over the years, we not only have proof that gsc was actually trying to add most of this shit in the early 2000s and modders have been able to restore most of it, whereas afaik there isn't a single leaked alpha of any bethesda game on the internet, and if there was zenimax (and now msft) would try to nuke it and any content from it as fast as humanly possible. this is an apples and oranges situation

kind of. until dean sharpe came aboard, STALKER was mostly a series of disparate tech demos. an actual game didn't materialize until 2005-2006. by then, major cuts were already taking place

Yep, there is a persistent myth that Dean Sharpe came along and eviscerated an already almost complete build, but as you say it was mostly just a hodge podge of messy tech demos.

GSC was already making massive cuts before he came along, he just focused them more on delivering something shippable.

This video is long, but extremely interesting if anyone cares about the old builds and history. The author covers every known build and the internal situation at GSC at the time. He pretty definitively dispels the Dean Sharpe myth.

 
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prengle

Savant
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Messages
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yeah gsc never actually implemented things like their initial vision of a-life, and while sharpe isn't blameless he isn't the sole reason why stalker turned out the way it did - but while the stalker community was able to salvage a good portion of it through leftover files and leaked builds, none of bethesda's shitty games have been nearly as lucky
There is a lot of unfinished stuff hidden inside Skyrim's files, originally the civil war should have been a much bigger part of the game https://tcrf.net/The_Elder_Scrolls_V:_Skyrim/Civil_War and they planned to make it much more dynamic but obviously, none of that was possible on consoles so it was cut. Though there was a mod that restored it.
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/103098/ It's really sad originally the civil war should have even affected the game's economy.
they didn't pull a bunch of shit just because of consolization, skyrim was infamously rushed to meet their epic 11/11/11 deadline and even now it fucking shows. and i forgot apollodown had everything they made reuploaded to the nexus, i wouldn't personally use them or recommend them to anyone because he's an obnoxious shithead, but that's interesting
 

CappenVarra

phase-based phantasmist
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i'll take gsc over beth any day, any time

but is this new stalker being done by gsc, or is it just a marketing ploy?
 

jebsmoker

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Insert Title Here Strap Yourselves In I helped put crap in Monomyth
rehosting this on imgur since something seems to be busted:

h0x6Qm2.jpg


look at this dude lmao
 
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Vexxt

Educated
Joined
Feb 6, 2018
Messages
67
I see the argument constantly being thrown around about how without the original team the game will suck. Taken into account what we know, how is that a bad thing whatsoever?

Yes, the original team in my opinion created a brilliant gameplay loop, with incredible atmosphere, gunplay, etc. But, have you seen what the "original team" has done since leaving GSC?

Survarium - Trash F2P cash grab that they lied about over and over to try to keep the STALKER community engaged, but left promises unfulfilled.
Metro Series - Incredibly atmospheric games but with lackluster gunplay that NEVER seems to evolve. (no lean, floaty movement, etc)

Now I say this as a Metro fan, but aside form larger environments and some incredible art direction Exodus brought nothing worthwhile to the table.

It's time for new blood. I'd PREFER a brand new team that grew up playing the STALKER series take a stab at recapturing the magic of the original trilogy.
 

Curratum

Guest
I don't understand why people can't seem to let go of the idea that their favorite franchise from 10-15-20 years ago will magically get a repeat installment JUST like the old one but better, and JUST like they want it.

This has never happened in the history of gaming and it never will, both because of how things change in terms of devs, tech and markets and because of nostalgia goggles.
 

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